Data retention policy ‘chaotic, confusing’: iiNet

On Wednesday Prime Minster Tony Abbott initially stated web browsing history would be collected by internet service providers; he later corrected himself and said it would not be collected as part of the data retention policy. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

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Internet service provider iiNet has labelled the federal government’s changing set of requirements for its controversial data retention policy as “simply chaotic”.

The Abbott government on Tuesday announced it would back a data-retention policy that would force telecommunications companies to record the metadata of every customer for two years. It said such moves were vital for fighting terrorism and crime in a digital age.

Metadata can include everything from the time, location and duration of phone calls to detailed information about tweets and Facebook posts as well as the type of devices used. Telcos claim the policy could cost between $500 million and $600 million to implement depending on how the government defines “metadata”.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday appeared to indicate the web browser history of Australian internet users could be included in the definition of metadata that telcos would then store for two years.

Mr Abbott later said web browsing histories would not be part of the policy.

“It’s not what you’re doing on the internet, it’s the sites you’re visiting, it’s not the content, it’s the sites [where] you’ve been,’’ he told Channel Nine’s Today.

He later compared internet metadata to the front of envelopes in an interview with the ABC radio’s AM program.

“Metadata is the material on the front of the envelope and the contents of the letter will remain private,” he said. “All we want is for the telecommunications companies to continue to keep the person sending the information, the person to whom the information is being sent, the time it was sent and the place it was sent from.”

But Mr Abbott later corrected himself and said web browsing histories would not be collected as part of the data retention policy.

iiNet chief regulatory officer Steve Dalby said the day’s events were “simply chaotic” and his company’s costings of the policy were based on a set of definitions laid out by an attorney-general’s briefing paper in 2010.

“Who knows what they want? Every time someone speaks it further confuses the issue,” Mr Dalby said. “Using inaccurate analogies like ‘envelopes’ are confusing because they do not translate to the internet [and] suggesting that they don’t want to know where we go – they just want the addresses – is comical.

“If we only need to keep what we already keep, then it’s no big deal [and] the Attorney-General’s department should tell us that their briefing paper is withdrawn, due to the PM’s assurance that no new metadata is required. I’ll shut up and iiNet will go back to its business.”